No. 3 Notre Dame Overpowers Tech for Second Straight Loss

Dylan Tefft

Staff Writer

January 30, 2025

Hannah Hidalgo led the way with 30 points in Notre Dame's 77-61 win over Virginia Tech. (Notre Dame Athletics)

BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech women’s basketball suffered a lopsided 85-57 loss to No. 20 NC State last Sunday. If the Hokies were looking to bounce back, they would have their chance four days later at home against No. 3 Notre Dame. 

Tech competed in spots—even leading after the first quarter—but couldn’t find the retribution it was looking for, falling 77-61. Considering the Fighting Irish boast the fifth-most points per game in the nation (87.5), a superstar duo in Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles, and high-level depth, it was certainly a better effort than last Sunday’s collapse against the Wolfpack. 

After the North Carolina State game, we were pretty gutted with our performance,” Tech head coach Megan Duffy said after the game. “We just really tried to focus, in two days, [on] finding a way to improve on a lot of different things. But I thought overall, our team’s response to commit to each other, and battle, and fight, was really good today. Notre Dame’s a really special and unique team, and they have so much firepower.”

Hidalgo finished with 30 points on 10-of-16 shooting and added five assists, while Miles contributed 15. Former Marquette standout Liza Karlen, who played under coach Megan Duffy, scored 12 on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting, while Sonia Citron added eight.

Duffy’s connections in this game go beyond Karlen—she played at Notre Dame for four years, averaging 15.6 points and 38 minutes per game as a senior.

“I honestly think, in some regard, I’m sitting here at Virginia Tech because I had a great college experience,” Duffy said. "I got to play for a Hall of Fame coach in Muffet McGraw. I was at a place where we emphasized the academic piece just as much as the basketball piece … I had some great memories.”

Duffy’s squad showed more fight in the first three minutes against the Fighting Irish than it did in the entire game against NC State last Sunday. Lani White, Carleigh Wenzel, and Carys Baker each knocked down a three in just over a minute, giving the Hokies an early 9-5 lead. 

Tech made just one more three the rest of the night, but its 21-18 lead after the first quarter exceeded expectations against the powerhouse that is Notre Dame. 

And it can’t be ignored that the Hokies held the Fighting Irish below their season average—forcing 19 turnovers and limiting them to 4-of-13 from three-point range in the first half. 

When they entered the locker room, Hidalgo and Miles had nine points apiece, and Tech trailed just 36-32. A late shot by Baker even injected the team with a spark after nearly going scoreless from the field in the final three minutes of the half.

But one can only contain a team like Notre Dame—and a player like Hidalgo—for so long.

The Fighting Irish came out of the locker room firing, overwhelming the Hokies with a 21-7 run to stretch their lead to 16 by the 3:38 mark. Hidalgo had 14 of those points and finished with 21 in the second half alone.

“I think that’s hard with a team like this,” Duffy said. “I thought we did an overall pretty nice job on Hidalgo, and again, she’s one of the top, if not the best player in the country. It’s hard to keep her contained for too long. And she got hot and aggressive in that second half.”

Tech put together a few short runs, but the Fighting Irish had an answer for just about everything thrown at them. Their lead hung above double digits and peaked at 22, but a last-minute Hokies surge ended the game at a deficit of 16. 

“As soon as you think you do one thing well against them, they have a counter to make it difficult on us,” Duffy said.

With 20 turnovers and just one made three after that early flurry, it would be fair to say the Hokies hurt themselves—but that’s hard to avoid against a top-five team.

Fortunately for Tech, its two-game gauntlet is over, and a lighter challenge awaits at Cassell Coliseum this Sunday against SMU.